The Epic of "Plankfenced" (Dwarf Fortress)

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

...shit.

I may have just blown up my game. Quick, someone tell me if they can load anything useful off of this (I've actually already completed my turn, just haven't gotten the write-up yet):

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=38ad ... f6e8ebb871

If you can't...then nothing I just did makes any difference since now we have to revert back to after Bhamv's turn.

If the save's fine, then I'll post the last update (I took the screenshots, luckily) after it's confirmed to be working. If not - then there's no real point to me posting the update.

EDIT: Crap, stupid me accidentally left the other region I was playing with in the folder - file has far more information in it than it needs.

 

[bhamv2]

It works for me. I can open it up in my game, and... wait... WTF DID YOU DO TO THE FORTRESS???

Eh heh heh heh, just kidding.

What made you think it was blowing up before?

 

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

It works for me. I can open it up in my game, and... wait... WTF DID YOU DO TO THE FORTRESS???

Eh heh heh heh, just kidding.

What made you think it was blowing up before?

I made a 2nd dwarf fortress install with a graphics pack, but I somehow screwed up the clean install I have. What had me worried is that the graphics pack version doesn't recognize my saves, but looking back on it I think that may be due to it being an older version or something.

Alright, good to know - I'll get a write up sometime in the next few hours here.

 

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

10th Moonstone.

Not much has happened here as of late, outside of the occasional kobold thief or additional "masterpiece" by our prolific craftsdwarf. I assigned a war dog to me the other day, but that's about it.

23rd Moonstone.

Okay, we've had multiple reports of kobold thieves - and I'm pretty sure it's not all the same one, since two came in at roughly the same time from two completely different areas. Fortunately, they're still not getting past the front door, so we should be all right. Still though, we should probably keep the gate closed - to my knowledge, no caravans happen by during the winter months.

28th Moonstone.

I seem to recall one of the previous rulers putting one of our captured goblins into a cage and releasing them so that they might be of some use to our militia for training. This sounds like both a great training exercise and a great way to relieve boredom. But, since I can't figure out where in this maze the even was previously held, I just decide to post the cage at the front door and hook a lever up to it nearby.

After the lever is pulled, a short scuffle ensues - and the militia come out without a scratch. Which is impressive, given that only after the fight did I realize I forgot to order the goblin stripped of all possessions prior to the fight:

8th Obsidian.

We've had another 5-minute possession-to-completion here. One of our soap makers - who has obviously been doing nothing but moving objects about due to our distinct lack of soap industry - made something out of bone and declared themselves a legendary bone carver. Works for me.

Other than that, things have been slow as of recent. Asides from another goblin fight or two, nothing of particular note has happened recently. Good - maybe I can still get out of here without hassle upon the last day of my compulsory leadership.

20th Obsidian.

This will most likely be my last write-up, unless something monumental happens in the next few days here. The fortress seems to be running smoothly, though I can very clearly see some room for improvement efficiency-wise. Particularly maddening is the layout of this place - I wish I had more time to untangle everything, but that's certainly not happening now. Oh well - that will soon be someone else's problem.

One humorous thing I've noticed is that ever since I allowed all the objects from dead goblins to be...err..."unforbidden"...that everyone's rushing outside to try and grab what they can. The humorous part is that the gate's still closed and everyone's just crawling over and under each other through the trap hall to get to it:

Heheh - oh well. At least I got one good laugh out of this ordeal. Now, I wonder if anyone would notice one of the donkeys going missing suddenly...

-----------------------------------------------------------------

...aaaaaand that's it. Sorry my turn took so long; I kept getting distracted by...stuff. If you missed it, here's the link with the save file again:

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=38ad ... f6e8ebb871

I forget who's after me, but good luck - I highly suspect that an attack may be imminent, given how often I was stumbling across kobold thieves at the end. Then again, who knows. But just a heads up about that.

I tried to kick-start our silver production, since that seems to be the only abundant metal around here - and trust me, we have plenty of ore. We're running low on the bars, though, and that's what I've been trying to remedy as of recent. If we could get someone making silver crafts, we could probably make a fortune off the trading - I just wish we had more usable metal for that. The times the caravans have come by, I've tried to trade for as many useless iron and steel objects I could get a hold of to melt down into usable bars, but I don't think anyone's gotten to melting anything yet.

That's about all I can think of coming off of this. Good luck, next-in-line.

 

[Pojodan]

Why are we starting up the justice system? Game runs perfectly fine without it and I really don't care if the nobles tantrum but having my master carpenter in the hole for a year is a serious problem.

Because there exists the possibility of the Hammerer killing someone when he goes to punish them due to lack of prisons, leading to a tantrum spiral that consumes the fortress.

 

[bhamv2]

Why are we starting up the justice system? Game runs perfectly fine without it and I really don't care if the nobles tantrum but having my master carpenter in the hole for a year is a serious problem.

Because there exists the possibility of the Hammerer killing someone when he goes to punish them due to lack of prisons, leading to a tantrum spiral that consumes the fortress.

Which is why I kill the Hammerer as soon as he steps foot on the map. Free steel hammer!

Okay, who's next on the list?

 

[Pojodan]

Why are we starting up the justice system? Game runs perfectly fine without it and I really don't care if the nobles tantrum but having my master carpenter in the hole for a year is a serious problem.

Because there exists the possibility of the Hammerer killing someone when he goes to punish them due to lack of prisons, leading to a tantrum spiral that consumes the fortress.

Which is why I kill the Hammerer as soon as he steps foot on the map. Free steel hammer!

Okay, who's next on the list?

Y'know.. I never thought to do that before and there's really no disadvantage to doing so.

Hopefully the next version will make the Hammerer at least somewhat useful other than forcing you to invent dwarf death traps or learn about assigning workstations.

 

[Wahad]

I am next but I'll only start saturday as today and tomorrow have a lot of work on the list.

 

[bhamv2]

Apparently in the next version there's going to be heavy penalties for killing nobles. Right now there's no real disadvantage to killing your nobles off, but plenty of advantages. Nowadays the only noble I ever keep is my Dungeon Master, since he doesn't make mandates and serves several useful functions. For the others, I've invented several deathtraps. The tower drop is probably my favorite.

 

[Dubyamn]

Why are we starting up the justice system? Game runs perfectly fine without it and I really don't care if the nobles tantrum but having my master carpenter in the hole for a year is a serious problem.

Because there exists the possibility of the Hammerer killing someone when he goes to punish them due to lack of prisons, leading to a tantrum spiral that consumes the fortress.

Which is why you never assign a sheriff/captain of the guard. It short circuits the justice system and the hammerer never actually gets around to beating the justice out of people. Had a long running fort run that way and like I said the anger at having a criminal go unpunished was equal to the pleasure they had form having nobody remember their tantrum.

 

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

Why are we starting up the justice system? Game runs perfectly fine without it and I really don't care if the nobles tantrum but having my master carpenter in the hole for a year is a serious problem.

Because it makes for a more interesting bloodlines game, that's why. Boatmurdered benefited greatly from their attack elephant problem.

 

[Wahad]

Also, because I hate the original graphics (sue me if you must) I will be using Mayday Graphics pack (AKA DFG). Those objecting to that can state their claims today. If so, I will forgo my turn.

 

[Dubyamn]

Eh if it's just the cat mod and the graphic pack I don't mind. But if I can't play it I'll revert from Chronos's save. Unless Chronos wants another go at the fort.

 

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

If someone wants to go next, they can be my guest. I'm perfectly fine with waiting.

I have no issue with the graphics pack/cat mod fix thing personally. I'm going to go see if Bear is actually going to take a turn for once.

 

[Wahad]

Can I just ask, before I start writing, why you guys don't seem to have any sense of efficiency? Dear LORD, people.

Then again, I suppose it's more dwarfish this way.

 

[Dubyamn]

Can I just ask, before I start writing, why you guys don't seem to have any sense of efficiency? Dear LORD, people.

Then again, I suppose it's more dwarfish this way.

Lemme guess you hate the use of the third dimension to put the stock piles above and below the workshops as well?

 

[Wahad]

Can I just ask, before I start writing, why you guys don't seem to have any sense of efficiency? Dear LORD, people.

Then again, I suppose it's more dwarfish this way.

Lemme guess you hate the use of the third dimension to put the stock piles above and below the workshops as well?

It's not that, but there's no focusing AT ALL. Things are just strewn about the fortress without any kind of method Furthermore, everyone seems to be hauling. And I mean EVERYONE. Except the miners who now have jack shit to do.

(For a note of reference, here's what I use in my fortresses for workshops.)

Workshops
Forges

Saves a lot of walking time.

 

[Wahad]

((By the way Chronos, I noticed your upload held two worlds.))

Diary of Erush "Wahad" Duthalkulet - Spring 154

1st of Granite

I was content leaving the business up to others. No more, I say! These bumbling buffoons have no idea how to run a proper fortress! Workshops have no personal space, stockpiles are everywhere and nowhere, stone is cluttering up said stockpiles and pretty much everything besides the bedrooms, our entrance is a mess... I, Erush Worthabbey, shall be now known as Wahad and I hereby assume control of the outpost of Plankfenced! Sadly, I can not undo what has been done and must work with what I have been given.

First order of business: Dig proper quarters for the mayor and have my own quarters made better. Also I want a tomb.

Second: Make people specialize, for Armok's sake! No wonder we can't get anything done, everyone's busy hauling! We could do with far less farm ground if we had a few skilled planters, but noooooo.

Third: Make a burial hall. I can't believe we've let our friends rot outside all the time.

Fourth: Order all non-pet animals save for a bunch of puppies to be slaughtered. They're in the way.

6th of Granite

Our wounded woodcrafter's baby is crawling about the entrance, throwing itself in the bridge moat and crawling back up only to repeat the process. Poor child.

19th of Granite

They elves didn't bring anything useful. Traded a bin of crafts for a bunch of drinks and barrels.

23th of Granite

The mayor mandated some iron items to be made. That wasn't so hard.

27th of Granite

I fired the captain of the Guard. He was getting on my nerves rambling on on how we should execute somebody to make an example. Nut.

5th of Slate

The burial hall has been dug out. Now to forge some coffins.

24th of Slate

My tomb has been dug out and a silver sarcophagus has been made for me. Joy! I shall have the tomb decorated once there is time. The mayor also has forbidden the export of shields.

25th of Slate

The baby that was throwing itself into the bridge gap finally died. I guess it couldn't stand watching it's mother in pain. The kid will be the first to be buried in our new hall.

28th of Slate

Zas Lukmonom and Alòth Mebzuthkivish have passed the Test of Champions! All hail!

1st of Felsite

Momuz Dodokkonad has passed the Test of Champions! All hail!

8th of Felsite

Burial of our dead comrades is starting to come along as our burial hall starts to fill it's alcoves with coffins.

12th of Felsite

Iden Morulrodim and Mistúm Ilralust have passed the Test of Champions! All hail!

One of our furnace operators (who was originally a woodcutter) was taken by a secretive mood today.

13th of Feliste

Edám Likotborush has given birth to a girl! Joy!

The secretive dwarf has claimed a craftsdwarf's workshop.

16th of Feliste

One of our wrestlers, Feb Nilolin, has given birth to a boy! Joy!

19th
The secretive dwarf has created a Maple Amulet which he named Bandedgrowled.

20th
Feb Nilonin has passed the Test of Champions! All Hail!

27thth of Felsite

All our fallen brethren have finally been properly buried.

 

[Wahad]

Diary of Erush 'Wahad' Duthalkulet - Summer 154

12nd of Hematite

I ordered mored defenses to be made at the entrance; I filled the cavernous walkup with stonefall traps and posted watchdogs at each end. Just in case.

14th of Hematite

The humans arrived!

17th of Hematite.

We're being besieged! I hope the humans make it inside in time. Furthermoer, while it is only one regiment, I fear we may be overrun. Will our traps be enough?

25th of Hematite.

Hah! WHile efficiency might not be their strongest point, the trap corridor my predecessors made did it's job just fine. After half of their force was decimated, the goblins fled. The only casualties were the two watchdogs I posted.

Bhamv met with the humans and traded a bunch of crafts for their drinks, meat and iron. On my request, Bhamv delayed our wishes to the Diplomat: Barrels, drinks and meat.

In return, they wished for the following

11th of Malachite

Ineth Steliddatan has given birth to a girl! Joy!

19th of Malachite

In commemoration of the victory on the siege last month, the people decided to throw a party. Much booze was had. More so than normal, I mean.

21st of Malachite

One of our woodworkers has become posessed and claimed a Carpenter's Workshop.

23th of Malachite

Sazir Olontomus has given birth to a girl! Joy!

28th of Malachite

Our possessed woodworker has made an oaken grate. He dubbed it Roofcrosses.

 

[bhamv2]

I love my trap corridor.

 

[Wahad]

Diary of Erush 'Wahad' Duthalkulet - Autumn 154

6th of Limestone

Started work on proper quarters for any high ranking noble. I would not know WHY they would come to this mess, but you never know. They're weird that way. Still, it doesn't hurt to be prepared. If nobody comes we can always use it as an execution chamber or something.

11th of Limestone

Another siege! Three squadrons this time, led by a hammerlord, a master lasher and an elite crossbowman. Armok help us.

14th of Limestone

Ablel Fokerlokum has given birth to a boy! Joy!

15th of Limestone

No! Wait! Wait, you fools! Don't go there! Stop throwing that stuff away! Get inside, damn you! What's that? You're already inside? But...argh! The goblins are still coming! Get out of there!

17th of Limestone

Argh! Thanks to those good for nothing nitwits, we've lost a bunch of men. Fortunately, at least the sieging army is gone. The two we lost were both mechanics. May Armok forgive them their stubbornness.

25th of Limestone

To prevent a fiasco with the next siege, I ordered the space above the stonetraps dug out so that those idiots may realize they're in danger there.

7th of Sandstone

Another party was given. To celebrate the victory, but also to honor the fallen.

22nd of Sandstone

Some kid threw a party. I guess it was his birtday or something.

5th of Timber

One of our champions has suffocated to death in a sparring accident! Speaking of which, I noticed two of our other champions confined to bed with minor concussions. Seems like the sparring is getting out of hand. Oh well.

9th of Timber

I've ordered another well to be constructed so our wounded won't go thirsty.

-------------------------------

Diary of Erush 'Wahad' Duthalkulet - Winter 154

1st of Moonstone

Winter has arrived, yet the caravan from the mountainhomes has not made it to our doorstep. I fear they may have been ambushed while on the way, yet their fate is unkown to me. Nevertheless, we shall endure until next year - under another leader, as the rules mandate that I lay down my position come spring. I shall try to make the transition easy by not making any big changes this winter.

14th of Moonstone

A thief attempted to get past our defenses today, but he was scared away by our puppies.

15th of Moonstone

ANOTHER SIEGE!

20th of Moonstone

Seriously, what do we have that they want so badly? At least the trap corridor is doing it's job, but wow, these goblins are damn perseverant.

Also, one of our stonecrafters was taken by a fey mood today.

25th of Moonstone

The stonecrafter has created 'The Brew of Meetings' an idol made out of granite.

8th of Opal

All the niches in the burial hall have been filled with coffins, so that no brethren of ours will ever need to rot even a minute. Should we get more migrants out to this place, I've included the plans for expansion.

15th of Obsidian

One of our champions has bled to death from his sparring wounds. Alas.

25th of Obsidian

Edùm Likotborush has given birth to a girl! Joy!

30th of Obsidian

And so my reign as leader of Plankfenced has come to an end. Zulban the miner threw a party for me. That was nice. Now I lay down my scepter and pass it on to the next, hoping that they may rule with at least some sense of efficiency.

--------------------

Picture says everything. So, here's the save:

http://cid-38189b57cc881249.skydrive.li ... se.aspx/DF

And I hereby forgo all my next turns. This fortress ran at a terrible 25 FPS average - when my next turn would come around it would probably run at a mere 10. I don't want that. Terribly sorry, but I spent more time waiting than doing anything.

 

[Pojodan]

Looking good! Who's next?

 

[Dubyamn]

back to the top of the order. So I'm going next.

 

[bhamv2]

Any news, Dubyamn?

 

[Dubyamn]

I'm an idiot who can't follow his own rules. That's the news.

Log of Dubyamn II:

I followed my birthmother here to this fortress not because I believed in her ideas but because I wanted to support her in the building of a new fortress. I watched as she tried to modernize fortress making with new and daring ideas. I then watched as dwarves lacking all vision took over.

I watched as they failed utterly to establish any kind of clothing industry or even use our well established forges and smelters to turn out weapons of destruction and armor for our brave dwarves and instead used our precious bronze to make Barrels and Bins. But now the time for vision has arouse. And I Dubyamn II creator of MatchedBells an oaken flute am just the dwarf to do it.

First order of business is to wipe the dust off the forges and get them working on their true purpose.

We have a good supply of silver which is a useful metal to train weapon making on and enough tin and copper to start training up an armorsmith. Our iron supply will improve now that I have marked all the useless Goblin weapons and armor to be melted but we don't want to waste Iron in the hands of a bad armorsmith.

Of less importance is finishing up the dining hall which has remained utterly unchanged since the time of my mother.

However the last administrators turned out to be elf wannabe who wanted their tables made out of wood and children's laughter. I say no! We are Dwarves we eat on stone slabs. We need to start up our mason production again.

Also troubling is the plague of laziness that grips the fortress with double digets of dwarves often reporting that they have nothing to do.

I enlisted every member of the lazy brigade to be a thresher in the farmer's workshops and set up some looms and a thread stockpile. I'll worry about the ascetics later.

And in order to meet our rapidly expanding need for metals, gems and space I started a robust exploratory mining operation

To help our 2 miners who have long since been legendary I have enlisted 3 dwaves into my dreadnaught corps. These Dreadnaughts were previously unemployed but now will help us expand while learning valuable skills.

In rapid succession our industry took off producing over 500 dwarfbucks worth of clothing

Sure it's not a huge improvement but the industry is less than 15 days old it'll get better.

 

[Dubyamn]

25th of Felsite:

Today started out poorly. I got a letter going into great detail about how our fortress is currently classified as "death trap" in Dwarf Fortress Bi-yearly. Unfortunately this means not even the most suicidal and stupid Dwarf will come anywhere near our fortress.

Which is a shame. I was hoping to have an influx of workers to help out with the new industries. But I shall soldier on hoping that my successes shall convince others that we aren't all doomed dwarves here.

Unfortunately my claims to safety didn't survive the morning.

A fireman wandered his way through the lava column. Why the hell didn't my Mother foresee such a terrible accident when she designed this forge? Maybe Bhamv was right and she was off her rocker. Fortunately this was no legendary tragedy. After the first hunting dog fell to the creature several hunting dogs moved in and tore it to shreads.

Long long before our well trained military showed their faces.

In honor of their sacrifice I set aside 2 tombs for the hunting dog and her pup who laid down their lives for the fortress in a show of honor that would go down in an epic tale in a simpler time.

5th of Hematite

Today a Child withdrew from society and claimed a craftdwarf's workshop.

I've heard about situations like this before. They often don't turn out well due to the child's delicate psyche Nobody wants to have a dead child on their hands but unfortunately it isn't possible to make the child sane until he gets the artifact out of his head.

After many worried days of dwarves checking in on him the child walked into the dining room (nearly filled to the brim with good stone furniture) and bellowed "I give you Kiretabras 'The Untoward Seer'" and passed out.

It truelly is an awe inspiring work and I have assigned him his own room in anticipation of his coming of age.

 

[Dubyamn]

17 of Galena:

Our exploratory mining has found a wealth of metals and gems including Cassandrite which will help us refill our supply of Bronze that has been drained by my training on Bronze bucklers.

However as much as I would like to continue my training before I start using the iron the fortress has scraped together but we really need to armor our troops there fore I have started using all of the iron to make plate armor.

15th of Limestone:

Armor production is proceeding very well and by the end of the year all our troops should be fully armored. But today our Mayor Bhamv withdrew from society.

Bhamv spent several days muttering and mumbling in his workshop that he needed bones and despite the horrendous pile of bones not more than 100 feet from him he refused to stop muttering about bones.

17th of Limestone:

Today as I inspected the defenses I noticed Bhamv walking up the mountain the skeleton of one of our dogs craddled in his arms.

I asked him what he was going to do with that and he mumbled something unintelligible in return.

18th of Limestone:

While reading today's "Mad Dwarfbucks" I was incredibly pleased to find that Urist McCramer had upgraded our fortress from "Deathtrap" to "Risky." This spurred a new trickle of suicidal idiots to our newly trendy death pit.

I of course didn't care what their occupations were. To me they were millers and threshers since none had very useful skills.

This news spurred our mayor to finnally finish his mad construction. With a truely maddening pile of materials he gave us possibly the most impressive glove Ever made in the Dwarven Empire.

15th of Obsidian:

Nothing much has happened since my last writing. Bhamv has started producing amazing amounts of cloth having become a legendary weaver when he made the glove. This has caused our wealth to skyrocket with masterwork cloth coming out and becoming truly amazing clothing. I produced enough armor for all the troops to have full sets of armor making them an impressive site especially with the silver weapons I had Chronos make in order to have them train up their weapon skills but they are only training weapons and will need to be replaced at the first oppurtunity.

20th of Obsidian:

Once again tragedy reared its ugly head. A fire imp found his way into the metal works.

This was a terrible time because nearly all of our furnace workers were smelting along side myself and Chronos. Before I could react the fire imp went over to where Wahad was smelting copper bars and started breathing fire all over Wahad and his posse of dogs that follow him all around.

After that I couldn't see anything due to the smoke coming from the imp but I could hear the snarling of the war dogs as they went about their work.

And soon it was all over. The Imp had been ripped to shreads by our 4 legged friends and another metal works tragedy had been averted.

I of course assigned 2 of these wondrous animals to be my guards.

30th of Obsidian:

Nothing more happened since the dust up with the imp and it is now time for me to step down from my position of power. Last year I began with a few goals. First was to create a clothing industry to improve our wealth and to spare us the embarassment of having to do negotiations with the humans in rotting pants. My next goal was to improve our military strength and I believe that I have accomplished that goal as well.

They have weapons to train with and well made armor which truely brings our military into the age of Men.

And in the end I have nearly tripled our wealth which isn't bad thing to happen in the 5th year of a fortress.

-- Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:43 pm --

Save is up here Bhamv

http://rapidshare.com/files/245409603/r ... 2.zip.html

 

[bhamv2]

Woo hoo! I'm legendary!

I'm on it.

Question: Someone's dug out several large chambers in the sleeping quarters level, separated by double doors, with one of the chambers containing a few tables and chairs. What's that for?

 

[Wahad]

Those were the Mayor's quarters. Dining room, bedroom and study from left to right. Not sure if anyone got re-elected after my save but you can just reassign the rooms. Also I'm pretty sure I had cabinet and the usual required stuff in them.

 

[Dubyamn]

No sorry I didn't write about those. That's how I always make the noble quarters. The ones with tables and chairs are the dining rooms. I figured I'd hollow out a few rooms in case the count and friends showed up.

Didn't get to finish em up because the engravers were hard at work one the barracks and entrance hallway.

 

[Necronic]

FYI (only read part of this) if you never assign a sherriff or fortress guards the hammerer will never do shit. Basically you can work around the entire law and order system.

 

[bhamv2]

Ah, copy that, Dubyamn. However, given my... egomania... if any nobles show up during my turn I'm killing them off.

Also, there's a bit of a family emergency over here, so I might be a few days late with my turn. I'll still try to meet the one week deadline. Hope that's all right.

 

[Dubyamn]

Well I played a little onward and... We have the count and Posse coming this year. And next year from the sound of it.

And any idea how long you'll need?

-- Mon Jun 22, 2009 8:40 am --

Just make sure the deaths are entertaining.

 

[bhamv2]

Okay, family emergency resolved now, I think, so I should be all right to take my turn sometime in the next few days. Honestly sorry about the delay guys.

 

[bhamv2]

Aww crap, fellas, sorry but I'm going to have to skip my turn. The family emergency's flared up again.

In case anyone's curious, my grandfather's in the hospital again, and I need to stay with him at the hospital at night. Coupled with my usual activities during the day, this means I don't have much time for gaming.

Really sorry guys.